December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

A Chance Encounter with Brad Templeton, of ClariNet
by blancw＠pylon.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Responding to msg by Mike McNally: "Put yourself in his place. Mr. Templeton's attitude makes perfect sense. The entire fabric of his business is based upon state-supported protection of the "property" that's his stock in trade. I would think very little of him as a businessperson were he to simple roll over and give up." ........................................................ Businessmen must find a way to channel their goods & services so that they can reach their customers and receive the desired return on their efforts and their investments. It's a paradoxical quagmire, isn't it, to be both open, available, and accessible, while yet needing to be exclusive, particular, and restricted. Blanc

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re: Wired Whitehall
by m5＠vail.tivoli.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Duhh. Reading a little further, I find that Kable can be reached at +44 171 410 9046. I called and there's a two-tier pricing policy for the report: about L40 (that's a fancy "pounds sterling" sign) for public sector & university purchases, and about L200 for private-sector purchases. They can't do credit cards, ironically enough. | GOOD TIME FOR MOVIE - GOING ||| Mike McNally <m5(a)tivoli.com> | | TAKE TWA TO CAIRO. ||| Tivoli Systems, Austin, TX: | | (actual fortune cookie) ||| "Like A Little Bit of Semi-Heaven" |

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Re: Pentium bug and CRYPTO
by cwedgwood＠cybernet.co.nz 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

chris.claborne(a)sandiegoca.ncr.com writes: [Will the following error (Re [Pentium Floating Point Bug ... cause problems with PGP key generation or] [any other normal operations with PGP or other crypto.] It shouldn't effect PGP in the slightest. Its a bug that effects only certain mantissa (23 are known so far) when doing a floating point divide (double precision). PGP doesn't use floating point for its big-numbers and it has no need for double precision. Since most version of PGP compiled for Intel platforms will be or the MS-DOS or Windows variety then it is very unlikely that even floating point instructions will be used - emulations libraries will be used instead for floating point. NT is a slightly different matter - but as I said PGP doesn't use floating point for the key generation or ANY of the RSA/IDEA code.... An interesting point about this rather obscure bug though. It won't effect over 99% of all Pentium machines in use. It won't effect word, windows or any of the other numerous programs that hold a large market share and high-usage stats.... but people making a big deal out of this and demanding fixes (I have heard new Pentiums don't do this and am going to test this next week) could cost Intel millions potentially..... and I doubt whether it would effect PovRay or whatever things people might actually use floating point for anyways.... Serious scientific work could suffer severely, and since Intel boxes are good power for dollar there are quite a few used in various places for intensive calculations.... (e.g. seismic ray-tracing - but that done of 486-DX2-66 machine because here is NZ they are about half the price of a Pentium so are even better value for money). Chris

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Re: Borenstein Speech
by Rich Salz 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I know better then this. >Nat Borenstein is speaking nearby on Monday. What's the global definition of nearby? :( I'll be the one yelling "thief, thief" as he talks about safe-tcl... MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC RESEARCH LABORATORIES 201 Broadway Cambridge, MA 02139 617-621-7500 OPEN PROTOCOLS FOR INFORMATION COMMERCE Nathaniel Borenstein, Chief Scientist First Virtual Holdings Inc. Date: Monday, November 28, 1994 Time: 9:30 am Abstract: Traditional one-way payment mechanisms, such as cash, credit cards, and digital cash, presuppose the necessity of payment validation in advance of the completion of a transaction. In contrast, a "closed loop" protocol that verifies both payment information and customer satisfaction permits a far simpler payment engine in an open Internet environment, and is well-suited to a broad sub-class of Internet commerce applications. In this talk, I will present the underlying philosophy, design rationale, and specification overview for a recently-developed set of open protocols for information commerce. (Dr. Borenstein is well known for his work at Bellcore on the MIME standard for multimedia messaging; he is also the author of the Andrew Message System, ATOMICMAIL, Metamail, Safe-TCL, and _Programming as if People Mattered_.) Host: David B Anderson <anderson(a)merl.com> Directions to MERL can be found in ftp://ftp.merl.com/pub/directions.map

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Re: Admiral Inman
by jamiel＠sybase.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I knocked this off Cypherpunks. It has no relevance there, although I was tempted. I'm also responding to both of you in the same message for my convenience. Also, forgive the spelling. For some reason my spell checker keeps bombing today. At 8:39 AM 11/22/94, Connie Sadler (415)725-7703 wrote: >In list.cypherpunks, jgrubs(a)voxbox.norden1.com writes: > >> jamiel(a)sybase.com (Jamie Lawrence) writes: >> >>> It does amaze me that what can be a victimless activity is such ^^^^^^^^^^^ >>> a hotbutton. >> >> Drugs are victimless? What about crack babies, which cost a million ^^^ First, you switched verbs on me. Semantic games are usually pretty pointless, but here you are twisting my meaning. Anyone who doesn't believe that the issue of drugs can be dealt with on a societal level with rationality and respect should read up on or take a trip to Holland (I'm talking drug policy here, not economics or anything else). If you want to talk crack-babies, I'd ask you what are the causes of the situation: some depraved, subhuman need for the drug or an economic and social environment that rapes most people in living it of their self- respect and dignity (I don't see being raised in a U.S. ghetto as being all that far removed from being raised in a totalitarian state, but this is a different conversation topic, and I won't get too into it here). "Gosh, Batman, how can we begin to deal with the root of this issue?" "Well, we have two choices. We can assume that the drug user is a depraved, subhuman beast that deserves to suffer and be incarcerated (and maybe spit on, too), or we can try to find a way to either help them out of a nasty situation, or at least not make their plight any worse than it already is." And we are making it worse, as a nation. As others have noted, legalization would cause prices to fall significantly (less drug related theft), end most related violence (as a smoker, I've never even been *tempted* to mug someone for a butt ;), and probably have significantly better quality, thereby alleviating many of the drug-related health concerns. >> dollars EACH in medical care, btw. > >Exactly! And this is just one example of the victims. What about the extremely ^^^^^^^ If you have this take, look at DCF's comments on the topic. 'Nuff said. >high rate of crime motivated by the need for drugs? I have personally been a Is that 'high rate of crime' attributable to the drugs, the users, the dealers, the economic makeup of the illegal drug industry, the U.S.'s method of responding to what I will agree is a problem, public morality or what? Saying that drugs causes crime is the equivivelent of saying the welfare state causes poverty. Without looking too closely, both statements can seem true, and may have some validity for a particular situation, but is a vast, politically expedient oversimplification that paves the way for a lot of ruthless puritanical moralizing and self-righteous demonization, a lot of public expense in money, human life and human dignity, and a senseless rigidity in response to a situation that can be much better dealt with, any way you measure it. >victim twice (theft of my car and *nice stereo system* and a breakin to my >house where much was taken) in crimes which appeared to be motivated by the ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ So drugs are nasty becuase you have lost something to someone who *might* have stolen becuase of dependency? "Hey - I think that Republican stole my wallet! Republicans should be illegal!" (Yes, I'm being snide, and no, I won't defend it. I think my point, that this is a rather lame, nonempirical appeal, should be clear. I must say that all of this is so basic that I think some sarcasm is not out of line.) >the need for drugs. I don't see where legalizing drugs would motivate addicts >to start working to legitimately pay for their habits. Look harder. >CJS -j

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Brad Templeton, ClariNet, and remailers
by collins＠newton.apple.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>Brad and ClariNet have already caused one remailer to go down (the >operator of it has commented here before and of course can do so again >if he sees this), and his comments Saturday night cause me to think he >may be considering a test case of some sort. (He is fearful of losing >his Associate Press/etc. franchise if he fails to enforce his rights.) I might be the (ex-)remailer operator in question. I find Brad's lack of knowledge about remailers quite surprising in light of almost 4 hours of conversation devoted solely to this topic, by telephone, over the course of a month. My summary analysis of Brad is: he'll try to scare/bully you into getting what he wants by citing (or imagining) laws upon which he will base prosecution. Prosecution never follows. If you debate his law, he resorts to "You are Netcom's customer; Netcom is my customer; if you want to remain Netcom's customer then you had better toe my line." Persection of more or less potency always follows. I try not to flame, but the greater my contact with Brad---the greater my disdain for him. He is an extremely small-minded man. Brad can't yet even demonstrate a crime. He constantly reports remailer abuses in the form of AP Newswire articles distributed anonymously; and thus (_obviously_) stolen from ClariNet. The AP Newswire, however, is already distributed electronically has a vast army of legitimate direct-subscribers. Brad never offers evidence that the posts actually come from ClariNet, and in fact ***he immediately deletes the posts whenever he sees them*** (and saves no copies!). I have no idea how or why he is allowed to do this. Though it certainly cuts down on `competition'. ............................................................ collins(a)acm.org Scott Collins

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Re: Admiral Inman
by jamiel＠sybase.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

At 10:50 AM 11/22/94, Jamie Lawrence wrote: >I knocked this off Cypherpunks. It has no relevance there, Er, I thought I did. Sorry all. It is the thought that counts, right? -j

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Brad Templeton, ClariNet, and remailers
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Responding to msg by collins(a)newton.apple.com (Scott Collins) on Tue, 22 Nov 11:5 AM >My summary analysis of Brad is: he'll try to >scare/bully you into getting what he wants by citing >(or imagining) laws upon which he will base >prosecution. Prosecution never follows. If you debate >his law, he resorts to "You are Netcom's customer; >Netcom is my customer; if you want to remain Netcom's >customer then you had better toe my line." Persection >of more or less potency always follows. A couple of months ago a registered threatening letter from who cares appeared near here about my posting a ClariNet article to this list. It was ignored and after a couple of weeks returned itself in shame. End of story. Everyone knows I would never ever post copyrighted material to this list unless an insane over-riding out-of-control compulsion forced me to do so against the scientificly-rational self-preserving law-abiding judgment I've had rammed down my obedient brain since

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size restrictions on jpunix
by John A. Perry 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hello everyone, Just a quick note to let you know that the 20k size restriction on messages has been lifted from the remailer at jpunix.com. It caused more problems than it solved. John A. Perry - KG5RG - perry(a)jpunix.com WWW - http://jpunix.com PGP 2.62 key for perry(a)jpunix.com is on the keyservers. PGP-encrypted e-mail welcome! Finger kserver(a)jpunix.com for PGP keyserver help. Finger remailer(a)jpunix.com for remailer help. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 Comment: Finger kserver(a)jpunix.com for PGP keyserver help. iQCVAwUBLtJHE1OTpEThrthvAQFoegQAh4dEIxRMIgmtBi2Utt0Dn4Yj0iRbj6l0 LZV0UhMUH2H2+MVK6FyCZz28hndjF9ONrW5adUEI1JYucvJLvWRKAZchIkqX0QVx vsC4k4D9fcq8DpR18OIecorasu4YHxRdM9MUnGe+S2wL481iC5nEUmjDqJgNUrun KseYqtXuk40= =8vy2 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Freemon vs. AT&T
by nobody＠nately.UCSD.EDU 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

This is an excerpt from an Hearing Designation Order adopted by the FCC 20 July 1994 in the case of Freemon vs. AT&T. For more detail, try the FCC Web server: (http://fcc.gov:70/0/Orders/Common_Carrier/orcc4012.txt) I had not seen it mentioned here: >4. The crux of the Freemons' complaint is the allegation that the >AT&T operator who handled Elehue Freemon's May 30, 1988 call improperly >interrupted and divulged the contents of his call and thus violated >Section 705(a) of the Act. According to Mr. Freemon, AT&T's operator >listened to their eight-minute conversation and then interrupted to ask >Lucille Freemon if her son needed medical help. Mr. Freemon claims that >he had already refused two offers of assistance by the operator and that >the operator's subsequent actions were inappropriate. At the outset, AT&T denies that [1] this ever happened and [2] if it did happen the FCC has no jurisdiction in this matter. http://www.fcc.gov/ is the FCC Web Server address. _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/ _/ _/_/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/ _/ _/_/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/_/_/ _/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/ _/ _/_/_/ _/ All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable. From Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience"

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